In spite of the world financial and economic crisis the Tver Region managed to sustain a positive dynamic on some socio-economic indicators and has even registered considerable growth in some areas.
In 2009, the Tver Region was ranked as follows in the Central Federal District:
- gross regional product growth index, 7th-8th places (2008);
- industrial production index, 11th place;
- production of farm produce in all categories of farms, 15th place;
- the physical amount of investments in the basic assets, first place;
- the rate of housing construction, first place;
- the growth rate of retail trade, 6th place;
- the growth rate of paid services volume, 12th place;
- the growth rate of real incomes, 6th place;
- the growth rate of nominal payable wages, 12th place;
- consumer prices for goods and services, 2nd-3rd places (shared with the Ryazan Region);
- the registered unemployment level, 12th-13th places (shared with the Tula Region).
At the end of the 1st six months of 2010 the following comparisons were made with the same period of 2009:
- the industrial output index was 114.9% (compared with the average of 110.2% for Russia as a whole), 77,633.3 million roubles worth of products have been shipped, with the processing industry index at 119.5%. The companies that produce and distribute electricity, gas and water accounted for 33.6% of the total industrial output, the production index being 104.5%;
- the volume of agricultural output for all categories of farms stands at 95.9%, of which in the region’s agricultural enterprises stand at 97.5%, household-run farms at 93% and private farms at 99.5%;
- investments in basic assets amounted to 28.99 billion roubles, or 131%;
- the turnover of the construction industry was 11.16 billion roubles, or 107%. 154,000 square metres of new housing, or 84%, was made available;
- transport enterprises and organisations of all types delivered 6.27 billion roubles worth of services, or 116.2%;
- communications enterprises rendered 5.47 billion roubles worth of services in their core activities, or 86.6%.
The average monthly wage at the region’s companies and organisations was 14,724 roubles in January-June 2010, which is 11.7% more than in January-June 2009. As of July 1, 2010 wage arrears stood at 13.5 million roubles, or 19.1% of the level in the first half of 2009.
Budgets at all levels of government had no wage arrears.
Between January and May 2010 real incomes increased by 105.4%. This, and the development of consumer crediting, account for the retail trade turnover reaching 58.66 billion roubles in the first six months of 2010, or 105.3% of the same period of 2009.
In June 2010 consumer prices for goods and services in the Tver Region increased by 4.7% on December 2009, with food prices rising by 6.3% and other goods by 1.9%. The cost of services increased by 5.3%.
Registered unemployment since the beginning of the year has declined to 1.6% of the economically active population on July 1, 2010.
The consolidated budget of the Tver Region reported a surplus of 2.23 billion roubles in the 1st half of 2010, 134.8% of the 1st half of 2009. The leading spending items of the regional budget are in the funding of the social sphere (education, culture, the film industry, the media, healthcare and sports and social policy), which account for 60.8% of total spending, or 11.92 billion roubles.
As a result of the drop in birthrate from 11 per 1,000 in January-June, 2009 to 10.7 in the 1st half of 2010 and the drop of the death rate from 20.7 per 1,000 in January-June, 2009 to 20.5 in January-June 2010 the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 1.9 times. The main causes of death, as before, are cardiovascular diseases, accidents, poisonings and injuries and malignant tumours.